Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v.1-.7.6]

Hey Peeps

Is there a 1280x800 Saint patch buy anychance?. i cant get ff7 to render in 3d with my intel 945 chipset on Aalis custom driver.

many thanks xD

Firstly, this isn't a good place to ask that.
Secondly, no, there isn't one.
Thirdly, why doesn't the driver work, and have you considered trying to get it to work instead of immediately abandoning it?

From reading your other posts, here's what I would do.
Uninstall FF7. Make sure C:\Program Files\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy 7 is completely gone.
Make sure your graphics drivers are updated to the latest version.
Reinstall FF7 straight from the CDs. Do not apply any patches or mods.
Apply the 1.02 patch by replacing FF7.exe and FF7Config.exe. Do not apply any other patches or mods.
Open FF7Config.exe and make sure MIDI is all good.
Install the graphics driver by unzipping the latest release to the folder that contains FF7.exe.
Run the correct reg file to put the driver into the registry.
Edit ff7_opengl.cfg and set fullscreen to false and resolution to 800x600.
Run the game and report back whether it works or not.

The driver should run on your card. OpenGL 2.0 support is irrelevant.
The two things you can't do are install other patches/mods and run FF7Config after the driver is installed. Most patches/mods will work with the driver, but worry about installing them *after* you have the driver working so you can revert back if they don't work.
Also, setting fullscreen to false is probably the simplest and most foolproof way to test whether the driver is loading. If it runs in a window, you've gotten it working. If it launches in fullscreen, something's wrong.

In his defense, at first glance it doesn't seem to do nearly as much as it's actually capable of.

Someone mentioned in another thread that a readme should be made for this to go over all of the features and how to use them.  If you do make one include a log of all changes, known issues/solutions, what it does exactly, compatibilities, etc.

Also, excellent work on this guys.  It's awesome.  

Aali, sorry to finally (and sadly..) post a problem but, FF7 just crashed.

Right after Barret stepped forward to attack. here is the app log

Code: [Select] EDIT: Yeah, tried again, exact same error, Barret can attack once, then on his second attack he steps forward and it crashes..

Well the forward slash before battle.lgp is weird... is your battle.lgp modified?  If so did you use Aali's LGP/UnLGP or LGPTools?

modified, and LGPtools, and that was the first thing i noticed. About to try the original

EDIT: this time it just crashed RIGHT in the start of the battle with the original battle.lgp this time to desktop instead of locking up. Applog didn't generate

EDIT2: found the issue. sl1982's fonts when used in battle. Any idea why it might be doing that? He can't replicate it

Have you ever had a no-CD patch installed? (you shouldn't, BTW)

The driver is supposed to work with just a normal .exe with the 1.02 patch. I think there are problems whem no-CD cracks are used with the driver.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply... well, I installed a 1.02 downloaded somewhere... forgot where ^^ and thought it was an official version...
Do you think that no-cd is in another file? not in ff7 executable?

Ok, I reinstalled the game, took XP patch and give a try! It works perfect!!! plus in window mode
You guys are awesome ^^

@arew264 thank you for your reply. firstly i want to say sorry for my last post. i didnt mean to upset anyone i was just getting fustrated with it. i have tested out wat you mention and it seems to be working thank you very much , ff7 pops up in a window. but i cant tell if its using 3d render or software this is my app.log as follows thanks again.

INFO: Auto-detected version: FF7 1.02 US English
INFO: FFMpeg movie player plugin loaded
INFO: FFMpeg version SVN-r19334, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
INFO: Intel Intel 945GM 1.4.0 - Build 7.14.10.4926
INFO: No OpenGL 2.0 support detected, shaders won't be available
INFO: Found swap_control extension
INFO: Original resolution 640x480, window size 800x600, output resolution 800x600, internal resolution 640x480
INFO: No NPOT texture support
ERROR: init_indirect failed, scaling and postprocessing will be disabled
INFO: internal resolution clamped to 800x600
LOCK UNLOCK TEST
MATRIX INITIALIZE
INITIALIZE DD/D3D END

Just noticed that DirectX is disabling Direct3d For some strange reason not sure why. maybe its all connect. going to reformat and start fresh and see if that solves anything

how exactly does the new PNG loading work?  Do you still load textures into the /textures directory, or do you place them within the /direct folder?

Click to expand...

The old png loading scheme is still there, for replacing textures without FF7 knowing about it, or to replace things that aren't in .tex format.
However, if you want to load a normal texture for a model or whatever, you can just replace the tex file with a png and it'll work.

hellbringer616: It's very odd that you're having that error message for a font issue, but atleast you solved it.
Oh and forward slashes are not a problem.

A NoCD crack would be in either ff7.exe or CDCheck.exe, depending on the approach used to block the CD check.

@arew264 thank you for your reply. firstly i want to say sorry for my last post. i didnt mean to upset anyone i was just getting fustrated with it. i have tested out wat you mention and it seems to be working thank you very much , ff7 pops up in a window. but i cant tell if its using 3d render or software this is my app.log as follows thanks again.

INFO: Auto-detected version: FF7 1.02 US English
INFO: FFMpeg movie player plugin loaded
INFO: FFMpeg version SVN-r19334, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
INFO: Intel Intel 945GM 1.4.0 - Build 7.14.10.4926
INFO: No OpenGL 2.0 support detected, shaders won't be available
INFO: Found swap_control extension
INFO: Original resolution 640x480, window size 800x600, output resolution 800x600, internal resolution 640x480
INFO: No NPOT texture support
ERROR: init_indirect failed, scaling and postprocessing will be disabled
INFO: internal resolution clamped to 800x600
LOCK UNLOCK TEST
MATRIX INITIALIZE
INITIALIZE DD/D3D END

Just noticed that DirectX is disabling Direct3d For some strange reason not sure why. maybe its all connect. going to reformat and start fresh and see if that solves anything

Click to expand...

That log is perfectly normal. The driver doesn't use DirectX at all, it uses OpenGL. Right now, it's showing that your driver doesn't support OpenGL 2.0, which seems to be the case for most internal graphics drivers.
If you want to check whether you're using software or hardware rendering, enable the option to draw the FPS inside your game and/or raise the resolution to what you want and enable fullscreen again. The driver is loading, so now's the time to get your settings the way you want them.

how exactly does the new PNG loading work?  Do you still load textures into the /textures directory, or do you place them within the /direct folder?

Click to expand...

The old png loading scheme is still there, for replacing textures without FF7 knowing about it, or to replace things that aren't in .tex format.
However, if you want to load a normal texture for a model or whatever, you can just replace the tex file with a png and it'll work.

hellbringer616: It's very odd that you're that error message for a font issue, but atleast you solved it.
Oh and forward slashes are not a problem.

Click to expand...

Oh figured it was. But the issue was it was calling for files that didn't exsist. Caused from the multiple colors flashing in the limit break

how exactly does the new PNG loading work?  Do you still load textures into the /textures directory, or do you place them within the /direct folder?

Click to expand...

The old png loading scheme is still there, for replacing textures without FF7 knowing about it, or to replace things that aren't in .tex format.
However, if you want to load a normal texture for a model or whatever, you can just replace the tex file with a png and it'll work.

hellbringer616: It's very odd that you're having that error message for a font issue, but atleast you solved it.
Oh and forward slashes are not a problem.

Click to expand...

I've got quite a few new textures onto the world map, it's looking promising that the whole map could be redone fairly quickly.  The hard part is that the entire texture isn't used everytime.  The engine kinda randomly picks a spot for every tile and flip/flops it around, so a single seamless texture doesn't work.  I've had success with a "noisy" grass texture, and it looks much better than the original.  I'm owrking on the clouds in the sky now, but they seem to be a bit different than the grass textures, and a simple swap in and out won't be the case.

lee

FF7 Custom Driver FIXED!! intel 945gm chipset

Step 1 Install Final Fantasy 7 using your original CDs.

Step 2 Apply the ff7 1.02 patch. replace ff7.exe and config.exe in C:\ProgramFiles\Square Soft, Inc\FinalFantasy7

Step 3 Open ff7.config and test to make sure all midi/sound is working then close.

Step 4 Download and Apply Aalis Custom Graphics Driver (Latest Version) extract all files to the same directory as above.

Step 5 Right click on ff7_opengl (Registration Entry) and select merge to engage the driver.

Step 6 Replace your ff7_CFG file with the one i have uploaded. (Please note the changes i have made have got ff7 running like a dream on my intel 945 chipset if may or maynot do the same for you. Also the file has been set for 1280x800 ress. You can open the file in notpad and set the ress to wat ever suits you.)

http://rapidshare.com/files/267437457/ff7_opengl.rar

Step 7 Open your intel opengl settings. using your system tray icon, or right click desktop select properties. next click setting tab, then advanced. then select the intel  graphics media accelerator tab. Select Graphics Properties, then 3D Settings.

Step 8 Configure your settings as bellow.

Asynchronous Flip = ON
Triple Buffering = ON
Flipping Policy =BLITS
Depth Buffer Bit Depth =16 BITS PER TEXEL
Force S3TC Texture Compression = OFF
Force FXT1 Texture Compression = OFF
Driver Memory Footprint = NORMAL
Texture Color Depth = 16 BITS PER TEXEL
Anisotropic Filtering = ON

Step 9 Run ff7.exe and enjoy one of the best games ever made!!!

And there we have it running as sweet as a honey bees nutsack!!! xD

A big Shout goes to Arew264 For helping me Get this working thanks mate xD. And of course another Shout out to Aalis for makeing this possible pure genuis.

Thanks again peeps Mindrip XD

can someone guide me on how to do this step by step for FF 8, cause I changed res in open gl but that didn't do anything res still stays the same, do I need to overwrite the original .dll with the one included in this driver? cause if I take out the original .dll ff 8 won't start, please help

can someone guide me on how to do this step by step for FF 8, cause I changed res in open gl but that didn't do anything res still stays the same, do I need to overwrite the original .dll with the one included in this driver? cause if I take out the original .dll ff 8 won't start, please help

Click to expand...

Put the original eax.dll in your system directory (C:\Windows\System32 on most systems) and put the one included with the driver in your FF8 directory.

Now I'm not 110% certain that this is the driver since it may be the fact that I'm just using the PRP .lgps instead of their .exe (so I can use ff7music) but materia in game don't appear or shutter hard core.  Things like the key stone and other orbs.

Now I'm not 110% certain that this is the driver since it may be the fact that I'm just using the PRP .lgps instead of their .exe (so I can use ff7music) but materia in game don't appear or shutter hard core.  Things like the key stone and other orbs.

Click to expand...

It's a PRP bug, it doesn't even appear using the regular software renderer Just take the original Materia models

Materia - Black (hjgc)
Materia - Green (dabf)
Materia - Holy (gwib)
Materia - Pink (aude)
Materia - Red (awbe)
Materia - Teal (byib)
Materia - Yellow (ateb)

From the original char.lgp and put them in your new one. Then it works perfectly

:-o

While we're here, which file is the save point in the field.lgp?
I like the original more.   :-D